Crow Market

Today's Mr. Zorro looked vastly different from the thief he had been that day.

A gentleman's hat was pulled so low it nearly covered his nose, revealing only a few strands of deep blue hair at the brim. His understated yet luxuriously detailed attire marked him at a glance as a refined Noble Child.

Yet what he was doing today did not suit those fine clothes at all. After leaving Gabreid's bustling main streets, he kept slipping into increasingly secluded alleys.

If not for the fact that the man had been hurrying along without once looking back, Evan would have thought he had discovered the tail and was deliberately circling around to shake it off.

"What a mysterious fellow."

Still, to be safe, Evan increased the distance between them, following only from afar without letting him leave his sight entirely.

After passing through five or six narrow alleys, too tight even for carriages to enter, Evan finally saw him stop before the gate of an abandoned courtyard.

Though it was secluded and the buildings were old, the place itself was genuinely huge.

Judging from the weathered and broken decorations, this had once been prime real estate in the old city district. Now, however, it had apparently been abandoned for years, with shrubs growing everywhere.

Standing before the gate of the derelict estate,

Zorro took a black hooded cloak from the small bag he carried and draped it over himself. Then, facing the tightly locked wrought-iron gate, he stepped straight through it.

Amid ripples like disturbed water, he vanished completely. The gate, which appeared battered by countless years of wind and rain, seemed as though it had never existed at all.

"Witchcraft? An illusion?"

Evan emerged from his hiding place in the distance and carefully observed the scene.

Only when he approached did his active Spirit Power detect the lingering traces of witchcraft in the air.

A permanent, fixed witchcraft spell had been cast here!

In truth, this place only blocked ordinary people. To Extraordinary people—especially Spellcaster Extraordinary whose spirits had already become active—it was as conspicuous as a beacon within five meters.

No wonder the man had shown so little awareness of being followed along the way. This place was practically semi-public; anyone who could find it could enter.

And after reading Leon's notes, Evan was no longer a complete novice. He had already guessed what kind of place this was.

"Not bad luck. Just when I was sleepy, someone handed me a pillow."

Evan was rather glad he had not worn his military uniform today. Instead, he wore ordinary clothes with a hood. Once he pulled it down, others would be able to see nothing but his chin.

Perfect!

He then stepped inside as well. It felt as though he had passed through a flowing membrane of water, and the clamorous sounds of a crowd instantly filled his ears.

"How much..."

"Too expensive, and the side effects are too severe..."

"If you're not buying, don't touch it."

The various stalls, shops, and passing crowds immediately made Evan feel as though he had entered a lively market.

Only, this market was somewhat different from the others.

The mysteriously dressed buyers and sellers, their deliberately hushed conversations, the overall dim decor, the bizarre and even hair-raising merchandise on display, and the strange smell lingering everywhere all spoke of this place's eerie nature.

This really was a market, but not one for ordinary people. It was the Crow Market, serving only Extraordinary people!

Leon's notes contained records of the Crow Market. He himself had been a frequent visitor, active here as a seller. Though the era and region were different, the essence was much the same.

If Evan had to compare it to something from the mundane world, it would resemble the ghost markets of his previous life: gathering at sunset and dispersing at dawn, with no responsibility taken for anything bought or sold here once the market closed.

Evan felt that Mr. Zorro was practically his lucky star. Whenever he was sleepy, the man brought him a pillow. First, he had "given" him Leon's notes, and now he had "given" him a Crow Market. What a truly wonderful person.

Evan could not help guessing that this man had to be a wizard as well. Otherwise, there was simply no reasonable explanation for his bizarre behavior.

A noble, a thief, a peak-level Apprentice Knight, a Wizard Apprentice... With so many identities, Evan grew ever more interested in Mr. Zorro's secrets.

Though he also found something strange.

Why could something so obviously targeted by both the church and the kingdom appear so openly in an important city like Gabreid? But Evan had never been one to dig to the bottom of everything. The deeper reasons were not something a newcomer who had only just entered the Extraordinary world ought to investigate.

After retaining a measure of caution, he formally entered the market.

It was his first time in the Crow Market. Filled with curiosity, he did not bother looking for where Zorro had gone and simply blended into the crowd to browse on his own.

"How much for this Clever Tongue Grass?"

Crouching before an herb stall, Evan pointed at a bundle of herbs whose leaves resembled sparrows' tongues and asked the vendor in a deliberately lowered, disguised voice.

Clever Tongue Grass was the main ingredient in Birdsong Potion, one of the three original potions recorded in Leon's notes. It was not especially rare, but since he had encountered it here, he naturally could not let it pass.

He had originally worried that frequently buying strange herbs would attract attention and planned to lie low for a while. But in a place like the Crow Market, where everyone hid their identity, that concern no longer existed. Once he left the Crow Market and removed his hood, no one would recognize him.

"There are twenty in total. Two Gold Lions, and you can take them all." The vendor, whose head was likewise hidden beneath a black hood, did not even look up. His hard voice emerged from the shadows beneath it.

Evan paid no mind to the vendor's attitude. Most stall owners he had passed along the way had this same irritating take-it-or-leave-it manner. Their businesses would have gone under long ago outside, but here it was normal.

"Two Silver Bulls." Evan calmly stated the price he had in mind, cutting the offer by two-thirds in one stroke.

The vendor looked up at Evan.

At least, Evan distinctly felt two icy gazes from beneath that hood. After a moment, the vendor said, "Take them."

His tone remained utterly flat.

I still offered too much! Though Evan had tried his best to overestimate how unscrupulous the Crow Market could be, judging by the vendor's attitude, his price had still exceeded the vendor's expectations by quite a bit.

But he was not particularly discouraged. Knowledge gained from books was always superficial; what Leon had recorded in his notes was only his own experience.

Besides, a hundred years had already passed. If Evan remained trapped within the limits of Leon's knowledge, there would be even greater losses waiting for him in the future.

Afterward, Evan visited every stall. Aside from picking up a few herbs he was somewhat familiar with, he did not even touch the other strange-looking items.

Eyesight was extremely important when buying things in the Crow Market.

Misjudging an antique at an antiques market would cost, at most, some money. But here, buying some bizarre object of unknown origin could cost him his life!

That was also why Evan had not dared collect even the spoils of war when he encountered strange enemies in the past. Blood Anchor Zack and the native witch doctor Gagon had both been examples of this.